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The Warden
The Warden is a naturalist who is responsible for taking care of the animals within White Deer Park in the books and the TV series. In the books, he is first encountered by the Farthing Wood animals during their journey to White Deer Park, but they do not realise he is the Warden until they arrive at the park. The Warden has a pet cat called Ginger Cat and also owns a dog called Rollo near the end of the TV series. Books The Animals of Farthing Wood The animals first see the Warden while they are resting in an orchard. At this point they have no idea who he is, but Toad does recognise him as a naturalist due to the interest he is taking in the wildlife. The animals watch him make notes and sketches of a plant that he has taken interest in, but then he prepares to leave having found nothing else of interest. Noticing this, Fox sends Kestrel into the open to perform some acrobatics and somersaults for him, and he is soon joined by Whistler, who the Warden takes particular interest in. After this, the animals all decide to head out into the open together, which causes the Warden to scribble feverishly in his notebook, hardly believing what he has seen. The animals later see the Warden doing his rounds shortly after they arrive in White Deer Park. The Great Stag informs the animals who he is and Vixen quickly recognises him as the naturalist who they had encountered earlier on their journey. In the Grip of Winter As winter arrives, the Warden begins to provide hay for the white deer to eat, as the snow makes it very difficult for them to graze in their normal manner. While on his rounds he discovers Badger and nurses him back to health in his cottage. When Badger has fully recovered he releases him back into the park. Badger returns to live with the Warden permanently, but the man does not understand and assumes that he has come back to be fed, so Badger is forced to return home. Later in the winter, the Warden is taken ill and removed from the park, which allows several children to play in the park and a group of poachers to arrive and hunt the white deer. When the Warden finally returns Fox leads the poachers to his lodge, where he confronts them and leads them into his house, finally ridding the park of their presence. When spring arrives Whistler brings Toad to the Warden's cottage trapped in a jam jar. The Warden opens the jar and tries to save Toad from Whistler and Ginger Cat, but Toad hops away and Whistler picks him up and flies him away with Toad in his bill. Fox's Feud The Warden's only appearance in this book is when he is doing his rounds during Fox's fight with Scarface. This appearance causes the animals to disperse and Fox to release Scarface from his grip. He goes to help the injured fox but Scarface snaps at his hand and limps away before the Warden can touch him. The Siege of White Deer Park When The Beast starts to prey on the white deer in the park, the Warden starts to regularly patrol the area with a gun, but the cat is still able to attack them under his nose. Later on the Warden and some other humans build a pen near the boundary of the park and round up the white deer, herding them into the pen and keeping watch over them at night. However, he soon realizes that this is not luring the Beast so he releases the deer back into the park. The Warden later lays large traps in the park to catch the Beast, but it does not go near them and he eventually decides to remove them because of the risk to other animals. In the Path of the Storm When the stream becomes poisoned, the Warden clears away the larger animals that have been killed by drinking from it, but he does not discover why they have been killed until much later. After Trey is rescued from the fallen tree by the other stags, the Warden arrives and takes him away to tend to him. He later discovers the poisonous containers by the stream and removes them. He then inspects the water on a regular basis and restocks the stream with animals and plantlife when the water has become clean enough. Battle for the Park The Warden and several other humans spend most of the spring moving animals from White Deer Park to the new reserve and monitoring their progress in their new home, and as such he does not notice the rats' invasion of the park. He is eventually alerted to their presence when Fox and the other animals leave several rat carcasses by his lodge, and he searches the park for the rats' nests. He eventually finds a nest and lays down poison for the rats, but they are too experienced to eat it. After the final battle, the Warden discovers the rats' carcasses scattered across the reserve and realizes that the park's inhabitants have banded together to fight off their common foe. TV Series In the TV series he is portrayed as a gruff but kind man; who plays a similar role in ensuring the welfare of the wildlife sanctuary. He is Caucasian with blond hair and an age that was likely between about 30-late 40 years old. His face is only shown on two occasions: when he is taken away unconscious for medical treatment and from a distance after Fox defeats Scarface. In neither cases can his eyes be seen. He rescues Badger, Trey, Shadow and Toad on occasions when they were injured/trapped. As with the books he also arrests two poachers, stops the illegal toxic dumping into the stream and discovers the rat nest (unknowingly with the assistance of the Farthing Wood group). To eradicate the rats he fires his shotgun into the nest and scatters poison in front of it. Unfortunately neither of these tactics prove effective due to the rats experience (though the Large Town Rat is killed by the latter). When he adopts Rollo, he initially shares frustrations with previous owners for Rollo's distractions, but soon realizes his value when the latter guides him to the rats nest and an injured Shadow. Appearances Books *''The Animals of Farthing Wood'' *''In the Grip of Winter'' *''Fox's Feud'' *''The Siege of White Deer Park'' *''In the Path of the Storm'' *''Battle for the Park'' TV series *Series 2 *Series 3 Category:Book characters Category:TV characters Category:Humans